I see the advantage, that TMG can import from a variety of Genealogy
programs, whereas some of the is not so important to me, and 90% of the
users.

Concerning the export facility, I am also able to omit quite some of them,
as most of them are able to use the generic RTF format.

Concerning reports, many genealogical programs have 90% of those you
mentioning - in one or the other way.

Concerning filtering, the same can be done in FTM, and I see no need of
being able to send reports to all the formats you are mentioning. It is to
the best of my knowledge, "overkill" in using development resources to
support all those formats as most of them has a common format which they
read (RTF). Those resources might well have been used better in other areas
(reports?!).

I must admit, that I have difficulty in translating the word "Accents" into
my local language. My printed dictionary (from 1988) does not give me enough
opportunities to find an understandable word in my language, which fits in
your explanation. Maybe my dictionary is too old :).

Concerning getting answers from the President of a company on a mailing
list, I must admit, that I am not impressed. My impression of "Presidents"
were, that they took care of the overall business of the company and its
strategies, and not the day-to-day business, but maybe I am wrong:) ??

> Nevertheless I would have liked, if I were able to see the 2 januar 2002
(in
> Danish format) instead of 02 Jan 2002 date, or 02 Oct 2002 instead of 2
> oktober 2002 (in Danish format - controlled by the setting in the
> International setting in the Control Panel!!!!).

When I look at the Sample data set with Norwegian as the language I
see okt, des, mar, nov, mai, aug for Frank Alexander. Sounds right to
me. As I said before, months will not be spelled out on screen.

> Concerning Friends I had expected, that when they were in the TMG database
> as Friends, they were also displayed in the VCF as Friends, but apparently
> they are not.

In FTM 7.0 "Friends" was a term in the marriage group. As such they
would they would appear like husband and wife.

> Why do I have to add that in the VCF? I have already done it once in TMG,
> and they are registered there as Friends??!!

Then they will appear in VCF. Are you expecting labels for each
relationship?

> Where are the advantages of TMG compared to other Genealogy programs?

You imported your FTM file into TMG and included your pictures. The
TMG Sample has a picture and a text exhibit. Try to import Sample into
FTM and you will find one big advantage of TMG compared to other
Genealogy programs.

Import will allow you to import from The Master Genealogist and
GEDCOM. Not much of a feat. Most genealogy programs can import their
own files and GEDCOM. However the list goes on:
Family Gathering
Family Origins
Family Tree Maker
Generations
Legacy
PAF
Roots IV and Root V
Ultimate Family Tree
Visual Roots

In TMG4 we have these reports:
Ahnentafel
Audit
Bibliography
Data Set Information
Distribution of People
Endnotes
Journal - Genealogy format
Indented Narrative
Individual Detail
Individual Narrative
Kinship Report
Linear Ahnentafel
List of Citations
List of Events
List of People
List of Places
List of Repositories
List of Sources
List of Tag Types
List of Tasks
List of Witnesses
Statistical Report
I expect that TMG5 will have a similar list.

When it comes to reports I can filter the report based on a wide range
of criteria. If I want a List of People who were born in Danmark,
married in England and died in the USA, I can have such a report. I
can then send that report to:
Ami Progessional
ANSI
ANSI without soft CR/LF
ASCII Delimited with Comma
ASCII Delimited with Space
ASCII Delimited with Tab
ASCII Text
ASCII Text without soft CR/LF
ASCII/DOS Text
Data Interchange Format (DIF)
dBase compatible (Foxpro, etc)
DisplayWrite
Enable
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
IBM DCA/RTF
Lotus 1-2-3
Lotus Manuscript
Lotis Symphony
Mass-11
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Works
Microsoft Write
Microsoft WordPad
Multiplan
Nota Bene
Rich Text Format (RTF)
Signature
Symbolic Link (SYLK)
System Data Format (SDF)
WordPerfect
WordPro
WordStar
XyWrite

I have just barely touched on what may very well be advantages of TMG
compared to other Genealogy programs. Yes most can export in ASCII
Text or Rich Text Format but darn few can export to so many file
types. Some will have some of the same reports but few allow the user
to filter and design a report to suit the user's needs.

A couple more features that some programs might have are Accents and
Flags. TMG has these and they can be used many ways. Take a look at
the list of filters in TMG5. With TMG4 we could design our own filters
and I suspect we will in TMG5 when reports are available.

I don't mean to imply that TMG is the only program that can do these
things but few, if any, can do all of them. There are also features
available in other programs that TMG does not have. If enough TMG
users want a feature, there is a good chance that it will be added.
Again, other developers listen to what the customers want but none
more than Wholly Genes.

Yesterday and today Bob Velke responded to messages on this list. Luc
responds to questions about GENviewer but it is not common for company
presidents to respond to users. For many, too many, one is lucky to
get a response from any employee of the company.